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Epic Pictures Group Co-Founders Patrick Ewald and Shaked Berenson have accepted Wizard World Chicago's respected closing night invitation for their highly anticipated, award-winning horror film, "Jeruzalem." The Paz Brothers-helmed project will have its U.S. premiere at Bruce Campbell’s Horror Film Festival on August 23rd at the giant Wizard World Comic Con Chicago. Winner of the Audience Award and Best Editing Awards at the recent 32nd Jerusalem International Film Festival, "Jeruzalem" is expected to play to an Sro audience at the Muvico Theatre.

"Jeruzalem" is directed by Doron & Yoav Paz (Tiff and Berlinale’s "Phobidilia") and stars breakout actress Yael Grobglas ("Jane the Virign," "Reign," Rabies"), Yon Tumarkin (Berlinale’s Panorama Award-winner "Rock Ba-Casba," TV’s "Split") and Tom Graziani ("A Place in Heaven"). The chilling story follows two American girls on vacation who join a mysterious and handsome anthropology student on a trip to Jerusalem. The party is cut short when the trio is caught in the middle of a biblical apocalypse. Trapped between the ancient walls of the holy city, the three travelers must survive long enough to find a way out as the fury of hell is unleashed upon them.

Epic Pictures, one of the fastest rising independent all-in-one studios based in Hollywood, also has the opening night film, the long awaited "Tales of Halloween" on Aug 20th, as well as its quirky horror romance, "Nina Forever," screening at the festival on August 23rd.

Epic Pictures Group will also release Sundance retro hit "Turbo Kid" on August 28th. The company produces, finances, licenses and distributes top-quality and unique entertainment across the world. Since its inception in 2007, Epic Pictures has grown to become one of the most creative and dynamic movie studios in the entertainment industry, hand-picking only the most exciting projects and shaping them from script to launch.

There are two ways to approach a film such as Jeruzalem, from writer/director brothers Yoav Paz and Doron Paz (Phobidilia (trailer)): as a beacon of things to come for the nascent wave of Israeli genre cinema (as it's being hyped), and as a straight-up horror film meant to entertain and scare you. Does it work on either count?

In Jeruzalem, two American girls embark on a trip to Tel-Aviv to party on vacation, but their plans are altered when they meet a handsome young man on their flight who persuades them to start their vacation in Jerusalem over Yom Kippur instead. Little do they know that they are about to witness literal hell on Earth, as the [Continued ...]

Always a film festival that prides itself on giving its audiences a hell of a lineup, filled to the brim with standout titles every year and world premieres for films that are greatly anticipated, the 2015 Fantasia Film Festival has now revealed its final lineup. Like we’ve all come to appreciate, this year is no exception, with films such as Tales Of Halloween, Ant-Man, the greatly anticipated Cop Car (which will be screened with Kevin Bacon in attendance!!) and Jeruzalem all being standout films to look out for, along with a pretty epic list of other films that are sure to leave viewers entertained and excited throughout the entire event (July 14th-August 4th).

If the full lineup wasn’t already enough to make your horror loving heads explode, the new announcement that Fanstasia will host the July 30th premiere of Cody Calahan’s sequel to 2013’s Antisocial, Antisocial 2,

The 19th Annual Fantasia Film Festival is only a week away, beginning July 14 and running through August 4. And as promised for today, they’ve revealed their full line-up of films screening at 2015’s festival in Montreal.

This year’s line-up boasts 22 World Premieres, 13 International Premieres, and 21 North American Premieres. Both Marvel’s Ant-Man and the animated Miss Hokusai were previously announced, but now they’ve added the much anticipated Attack on Titan movie as their closing night film. Other highlights include the Sundance darlings Cooties, starring Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson, Cop Car, starring Kevin Bacon and directed by the upcoming Spider-man director Jon Watts, and a trio of films from horror auteur Sion Sono.

See the full line-up announcement of films below via Fantasia’s Facebook page, and be sure to check out their website at fantasiafestival.com for additional information.

“A.K.A Nadia” centers on Maya Goldwasser, who was born into a Muslim family and forged herself a new identity to become a Jewish career woman. But 20 years later, Maya’s past resurfaces, forcing her to face the intolerance and xenophobia within Israeli society.

As the Marché du Film opens for business, film production, financing and sales triple-threat Epic Pictures Group will set up shop with two buzzy genre projects: the multi-directed anthology film "Tales of Halloween" and Israeli horror feature "Jeruzalem." "Jeruzalem" is about two American friends on vacation in Jerusalem who get caught in the middle of a biblical apocalypse as the resurrection erupts on Judgment Day. Trapped between the ancient walls of the holy city, they must fight for survival as all hell breaks loose. Directed by brothers Doron and Yoav Paz (Tiff 2009 and Berlinale’s "Phobidilia"), "Jerzualem" stars Yael Grobglas ("Jane the Virgin") and is shot entirely from a Pov perspective via a head-mounted camera. The found footage-style is a trend among contemporary horror pictures, including recent "As Above, So Below." Read More: Climate Change at Cannes, Where Pre-Buys...

The vacation gone wrong story. We've seen it quite a bit over the last few years but while the mainstream titles (As Above, So Below, The Pyramid) have failed to deliver, the indies have managed far better (Afflicted (review), Spring) and here comes another indie that seems poised to continue the trend.

“There are three gates to hell. One in the desert. One in the ocean. And one in Jerusalem.” This Talmud verse sets the stage for a new found-footage horror movie from the Israeli film directing duo the Paz Brothers, Jeruzalem.

It was just announced today that Jeruzalem will make its World Premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival come July 22, and a first trailer has just been released for this story about some American tourists trapped in the Holy Land on the day that Hell opens up. Read the full synopsis below:

Two American girls on vacation follow a mysterious and handsome anthropology student on a trip to Jerusalem. The party is cut short when the trio are caught in the middle of a biblical apocalypse. Trapped between the ancient walls of the holy city, the three travelers must survive long enough to find a way out as the fury

Halloween is coming to Montreal this summer, as the star-studded (both in front of and behind the camera) anthology horror film, Tales of Halloween, is scheduled to make its world premiere at the festival. JeruZalem, Turbo Kid, Deathgasm, and many more movies are also slated to screen:

Press Release -- "Montreal, May 6, 2015 – The 19th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is gearing up to rush Montreal with three weeks of cinematic inspiration and fantastical visions from across the world from July 14 until August 4, 2015.

Our complete lineup of programming and special events will be revealed in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, here’s an early First Wave Announcement of selected highlights and info to whet your appetite for the exciting things to come!

The Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, now in its 19th year, is one of our favorite festivals around and a fan favorite for Sound on Sight readers for several years now. This year’s festival runs July 14 to August 4, and the first wave of films on the lineup has just been revealed.

Fantasia ’15 will also be home to several World Premieres, including Tales of Halloween, a collection of 10 short horror stories, and Jeruzalem, a horror film from Israeli directors and Tiff honorees Yoav and Doron Paz (Phobidilia).

The Canadian indie Turbo Kid, which we first caught up with at Sundance this year, will also be having its

Throughout the last decade, the Israeli film scene has found relative success both critically and commercially, but those film were either variations of the war theme in Beaufort, Waltz with Bashir and Lebanon or family dramas Late Marriage and Noodle. Other genres haven't really been explored, and when we have veered off into other templates, it's been a fairly dismal effort (see last year's Kirot). This time around, Israeli cinema has gone the horror genre route and on 1st December (which coincides with the eve of Hanukah), the horror film Rabies (the disease, not the plural of Rabbi) will be released - the pic is directed by a film critic-turned director Aharon Kesheles and co-directed by Navot Papushado (featured in the pic below). Early screenings have been earning rave reviews, and the local industry and future investors are curious in seeing just what kind of potential awaits when you factor

There are a number of new projects by the more established filmmakers that are currently in the post-production phases, the most anticipated is perhaps The Band's Visit's Eran Kolirin, who is in the editing stages of The Exchange. - Israeli Film Scene: Local The Israeli film scene appears to be in a hibernation mode right now. "Appears to be" – but isn't necessarily. There is only one Israeli film in local theaters now – it is Phobidilia by the Paz brothers. Based on a book by Izhar Harlev, "Phobidilia" tells the story of a young man, once a high-tech genius, now an agoraphobic. After spending the last couple of years of his life inside his apartment, and never leaving it, he is faced with the biggest challenge ever: A young and beautiful girl enters his life, and his landlord wishes to evacuate him. Both destabilize his life, and tranquility is shattered.

Berlin -- Brit director Mat Whitecross, who shook up the Berlin film festival with his last two documentaries, "The Shock Doctrine" (2009) and "Road to Guantanamo" (2006) is returning this year with "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll," a biopic of British punk icon Ian Dury starring Andy Serkis.

"Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" is certain to be one of the highlights of this year's Panorama lineup, which was announced Friday.

Other returning veterans include French filmmakers Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel, whose new drama "Family Tree" will have its world premiere in Berlin; Hong Kong helmer Skud, coming to town with "Amphetamine" and Austrian director Peter Kern, whose "Initiation" looks at the relationship between an octogenarian and a 16-year-old boy.

Art and gay cinema have always had pride of place at the Panorama, and are well represented in the 2010 lineup. Panorama's non-fiction section, the Dokumente, includes "Waste Land," Lucy Walker's portrait of artist

I'm writing this the day after first posting this entry. I now regret it. The point I make about artists is perfectly valid but I realize I wasn't prepared with enough facts about the events leading up to the Festival's decision to showcase Tel Aviv in the City-to-City section. I thought of it as an innocent goodwill gesture, but now realize it was part of a deliberate plan to "re-brand" Israel in Toronto, as a pilot for a larger such program. The Festival should never have agreed to be used like this. It was naive for the plan's supporters to believe it would have the effect they hoped for. The original entry remains below. The first 50 or so comments were posted before these regrets.

¶ The tumult continues here about the decision to spotlight Tel Aviv in the City-to-City sidebar program of the Toronto Film Festival. The protesters say the festival

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